" Having a mind to bestow on one of his own friends the
prefecture of the Kaaba, he took the keys of it from Othman the son of
Telha, and was about to give them to Al Abbas, who had asked for them,
when a direction came to him from heaven, in these words, "Give the
charge to whom it belongs." Whereupon he returned the keys by Ali to
Othman, who, being agreeably surprised, thanked Mahomet, and made a new
profession of his faith. The pilgrim's cup, however, he consigned to the
care of Al Abbas, in whose family it became hereditary.
The people of Mecca were next summoned to the hill Al Safa, to witness
Mahomet's inauguration. The prophet having first taken an oath to them,
the men first, and then the women, bound themselves by oath to be
faithful and obedient to whatsoever he should command them. After this
he summoned an extraordinary assembly, in which it was decreed that
Mecca should be henceforward an asylum or inviolable sanctuary, within
which it should be unlawful to shed the blood of man, or even to fell a
tree.
After telling the Meccans they were his slaves by conquest, he pardoned
and declared them free, with the exception of eleven men and six women,
whom, as his most inveterate enemies, he proscribed, ordering his
followers to kill them wherever they should find them.
Pages:
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463